Training and Change Management Consultant Career Q&A with Devansh

Devansh, Training and Change Management Consultant at Clarkston Consulting, describes his career experience with Clarkston and shares advice that he has been given as a consultant.

How long have you been with Clarkston?

It has been almost a year since I’ve joined Clarkston. I had left a previous consulting job and joined Clarkston when I saw a few colleagues leave before me and saw the success and the team atmosphere that was being fostered here at Clarkston.

What is your role at Clarkston?

At Clarkston, I am a consultant in the Life Sciences division. My background from my previous job was on supporting and developing enhancements for LabWare, and I’m looking forward to broadening my skills while here at Clarkston.

Tell us about a new skill you’ve developed recently.

On my first project here at Clarkston, I was assigned as training coordinator lead for a biotech company. I had previously worked with training teams, but this was the first time that I was actually in control of leading training.

On the project, I had the luxury of working with amazing stewards to help get caught up to speed quickly as we implemented enhancements to their LabWare system while completely revamping their training. We shifted to a complete role-based training system with specialized subject matter experts to lead the training. This was my first foray into this field, and I’m glad for the experience as I learned about Training and Change Management and have started to add that skill to my repertoire.

If you had to choose, which of Clarkston’s core values do you feel resonates with you the most?

I started off in the Life Sciences field on the support side, so I’ve naturally been drawn to delivering “brilliant client service” and “teamwork.” Support work was often about understanding the issues that the clients are experiencing and working with other teams to come together and find a solution that leaves all parties happy.

While on our project, all of the Clarkston stewards would meet for a daily stand up call. In those calls, I could see the team not only addressing the issues that the client has raised but also proactively looking and seeking potential issues that may not have arisen yet. Then, our team would work together to come up with a solution or escalate it to the client and work with the respective section on the client side. Some of the issues were not related to our project, but that willingness to basically put themselves in the client’s shoes and act on behalf of the client’s interest when it is not needed really stood out to me. This experience has encouraged me to work harder to ensure that the same value continues through me.

What advice would you give to someone starting at Clarkston?

The one advice I would give to someone joining now is to take advantage of all the resources Clarkston has to offer. While Clarkston may not be a big firm like others, there are stewards here that are extremely well versed with decades of experience that are all willing to share their knowledge. Take the time to reach out to people and just pick their brain.

On my project, I remembered meeting a few people during our Company Meeting in San Diego and recalled that they were well-versed in Training and Change Management. I learned so much from these conversations that would take hours or even days to try to learn by myself through other resources.

Can you share some advice that someone at Clarkston has given you during your time here?

One piece of advice that I remember clearly is that confidence all comes from presentation. Clients are likely to build trust with you if there is that aura of confidence.

I had an issue where I was familiar with what I was talking about, but I would keep using filler words such as “I think” and “Umm” that it was diluting the message and portraying the image that I may not be the right person to ask. After a meeting with the project manager where that was brought up, I went back to a few meetings and reheard them, and it was painfully obvious how frequently I would use those filler words. Now, I keep a sticky note on my monitor that explicitly tells me to avoid saying filler words, and I’ve found it so much easier now to build that trust and inspire the client to work together to tackle problems.

In your experience, what qualities make someone a good consultant?

Willingness to keep learning is what makes a good consultant great. The fields that we work in are always changing with new technologies and new methods. Having an unwillingness to adapt will leave you in the dust.

One example that I see is the growth of AI and how so many companies around the world are shifting to implement this new technology. It’s still in the early stages and companies are still trying to transition, but the change is coming. Innovation is the backbone for a lot of these companies that we consult for, and we need to be on top of all the new technologies in the field so that we can position ourselves with the clients to provide the best solutions.

Learn about growing your career as a change management consultant at Clarkston here.